


Your Superhero Smile

by mixtapestar



Category: Superman - All Media Types, White Collar
Genre: Gen, Multi, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-28
Updated: 2013-04-28
Packaged: 2017-12-09 18:47:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/776784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mixtapestar/pseuds/mixtapestar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Three days after Neal is finally, officially freed from his anklet, rumors begin to fly about Superman's return. Peter has no idea how crazy his life is about to get.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Your Superhero Smile

**Author's Note:**

> For Rebecca's birthday. <3

It's a warm Monday morning when Neal is finally, officially freed from his anklet. Neal smiles at him like he's waiting for the other shoe to drop - a feeling that Peter is not unfamiliar with.

"What will you do now?" Peter asks, feigning nonchalance.

Neal gives him a look that tells him he isn't fooled. "I think the first thing I need to do is figure out what my options are."

Peter nods. Concentrating on the fact that he's just stating a possibility, he mentions, "You'll always have a place here at the Bureau if you decide you want it."

Neal smiles brilliantly, knocking Peter a little off-balance. It's far from the smile Peter knows so well from when Neal is running a con, but _so_ far from it that Peter can't help but feel suspicious. "There's something I have to do first," Neal finally says. "But I may take you up on that."

Peter breathes a sigh of relief when, after three days of constantly watching the elevators, Neal shows up Friday with coffee for everyone. There's the slightest possibility that he's just visiting, but Peter can feel that it's more. Sure enough, once he joins them and takes the coffee Neal offers, Neal announces that he plans to stay on as Peter's CI.

Peter never gets a chance to ask what he spent the past three days doing. He has a feeling Neal wouldn't be able to tell him anyway.

******

"Don't tell me you're in on this Superman gossip too," Peter says when he meets up with Neal the following Wednesday morning and discovers him perusing an article analyzing the man's potential reappearance.

Neal's eyebrows shoot up as he stands to follow Peter to his office. "You don't think it's important that he's back? It's been years."

"I don't know that he _is_ back," Peter counters.

"Ah, a doubter. Why am I not surprised?"

"Why come back after all these years? It's not like there's an active threat." Neal gives a meaningful look toward the stack of potential cases on Peter's desk. Peter rolls his eyes. "None that require super powered assistance."

"How do you know?" He picks up a folder at random and looks at the top page. "Maybe Eric Richardson has the ability to walk through walls, and that's how he's gotten away with so many thefts in the past month."

Peter sighs and takes the folder back from Neal. "Even if so, it looks like we'll have to take him down using good old-fashioned police work."

Neal smiles, and Peter finds that he can't read this one either. "That's the spirit."

Peter blinks at him, suspicion building in him suddenly as it too often does with Neal. "What, no complaints about going about things the 'boring' way?"

Neal looks way more sincere than usual as he returns Peter's gaze. "Sometimes the boring way is best for everyone."

Peter tries not to let this odd behavior bother him as he gets to work.

******

Neal continues to act strange over the next several days, but Peter can't but his finger on exactly what's changed. His personality hasn't completely changed, just… shifted. As if someone's taken Neal and toned him down a notch. He doesn't even roll his eyes when Peter puts him on surveillance for a case. His earnestness is unnerving because Peter doesn't know where it's coming from. He's also being more evasive and unreliable than he ever was when working under the anklet, and Peter can't help but be worried.

It isn't until Neal disappears during a fairly important, well-planned takedown that Peter finally has a chance to confront him about it.

"Diana had it under control," Neal defends.

"You know that's not the point," Peter says, barely controlling his anger. "Where did you have to go right at that moment that was so important?"

Neal doesn't answer and avoids Peter's gaze.

"Right," Peter says, fuming. "I think it's best you take a break for a while."

"Peter--" Neal begins to protest, but Peter doesn't let him.

"Two weeks. You just got your anklet off; take some time to get your life in order. Come back when you can be fully committed to your decision to stay on with us."

Neal doesn't look happy with this decision, but he nods. Peter knows that's the best he's going to get.

******

Peter throws himself into his work over the next to week, trying not to worry about Neal. He finds plenty of distraction when their most likely suspect in a gem heist is revealed to have given the name Clark Kent, an alias that had been tied to Superman in the past. Peter is unable to escape the buzzing gossip around the office, but his most important task is to catch the guy.

"Clark Kent?" El repeats with an arched eyebrow when Peter fills her in that night over dinner.

"Oh, don't you start too," Peter teases her. "I've heard it all day. 'You'll never catch him, he's faster than a speeding bullet.' It's almost certainly some young guy capitalizing on the media buzz."

El looks doubtful. "Seems he wouldn't want to draw that kind of attention to himself if he's going to be robbing people."

"Means he's cocky. That's how we'll catch him." Neal would probably be able to help figure out the guy's motivation. Peter frowns into his pasta. He'd been trying not to think about Neal.

"You're worried about him," El says, seeming to read his mind as usual.

"I haven't heard from him at all since I placed him on probation."

"Maybe he's taking your advice," El suggests, her tone comforting, but Peter isn't that hopeful.

"I'm just concerned what he might be getting into while I'm not around. What if we've given him too much freedom too soon?"

They eat in silence for a minute as El looks thoughtful. "He could have taken off the moment he got his anklet off. He chose to stay."

"And then I pushed him away."

"Only after he messed up." El runs her hand over Peter's back in a soothing motion. "Don't beat yourself up over it. Neal knows how you operate. He'll do his two weeks, and then he'll be back."

"I wish I shared your confidence."

El sighs, long-suffering but with a smile, and Peter is reminded once again why he loves her so much. "Go on, then. Pay him a visit."

The idea gives Peter some relief, to his surprise. With a sheepish smile, he leans over to give El a kiss. "After dessert," he agrees.

******

"Peter," Neal says with no small surprise when he opens the door just as Peter reaches the top of the stairs.

"Expecting someone else?" he asks, taking in every detail of his surroundings out of habit.

"Not exactly," Neal says, evasive. Peter blows out a breath. "Come in."

"Just came to see how your week off was faring, so far."

Neal fidgets, honest-to-god fidgets, and Peter starts to wonder if he's dealing with some sort of body snatchers situation. "Stay here. I have something for you."

He darts into his bedroom before Peter can argue, coming back a couple of minutes later holding a fancy jewelry box in gloved hands. Peter's stomach drops to the floor.

"It's not what you think," Neal quickly says, alleviating any doubt that he's not looking at the box of jewels from his case. The box itself is completely unlike the one from the photos, but Neal's guilty look tells all. "The gems, they're not rubies."

Neal sets the box down carefully, and Peter uses a napkin to raise the lid. "Jesus Christ, Neal," he murmurs, taking in the pile of stones inside. They definitely look like rubies to Peter. "You have sixty seconds."

"Have the stones analyzed," Neal says, edging away from the box. "It will all make sense. I know it's not an explanation, but you need to see the results for yourself. I won't leave the premises until you have your answer. I promise."

He means it, Peter can tell, but this is all too much. "It's been _one week_ , Caffrey. One week. You couldn't stay out of trouble for one week? You know I'm going to have to report this."

"I was going to leave it at your front door," Neal explains, his tone desperate. "Anonymously, with a note. That's why I was surprised to see you. Please, can you close the lid?"

Peter does, noting that Neal's body language seems significantly more confident and at ease once the lid is closed. This is guilt far greater than he's ever seen on Neal. He stares down at the box as he thinks through his next move. "Where's the original box?" he finally says, not yet conceding to Neal's plan.

"I have it. You can take it with you too. Just… please run the tests. You can put a detail outside the apartment. I'm not going anywhere."

Peter intends to do just that, but he knows he should be demanding more answers. He could be ruined for this.

"Please, Peter."

Dammit. "Twenty four hours. If I get the results back and don't like what I see, I'll be back to put you back in prison. For good this time."

Neal nods. "Of course."

Peter shakes his head. This is not how he expected this meeting to go.

******

Jones appears grim faced when he returns with the results the following afternoon. Peter waits for Diana to join them in the conference room, trying not to appear as out of sorts as he feels.

Once the door is closed, Jones lays the papers out for everyone to see. "It's listed there under its medical name, but we're looking at red kryptonite," he explains as Peter looks at the report. "Banned in 2001 when it was linked to several diseases in its original area and found to be radioactive. Thought to be destroyed by 2003, but it looks like someone has found another batch."

"Also a known weakness of Superman's," Diana points out. Peter wonders how Neal knew all this, as he must have when using the Clark Kent alias.

"For all we know they've had it all this time," Peter says.

"Good thinking moving it to a lead-lined case," Jones says to him, and Peter has to bite back his initial response. Instead he nods and says, "I had my suspicions."

His team still hasn't asked too many questions about where Peter turned up the box, and that worries Peter a little. How long have they been letting him slide? Has Neal always been such a blind spot?

"Our next order of business, then, is to return the jewels and have their insurance representative verify that these are the correct gems. Once they've done so, we can take them down."

Diana nods. "We'll have to return the stones to their original box. Prolonged exposure could be dangerous."

"I'll do it," Peter says. "They'll expect the return to come from me. If we play our cards right, the box can be out of my hands in mere minutes."

As they all agree and make their moves toward the door, Peter pulls out his cell phone.

_Your probation is extended another week. Please stay out of trouble and we'll see you back in the office soon._

By the time he's reached the car, he has Neal's response. _Consider me properly chastised. Be careful._

******

The takedown goes remarkably well, and Peter has the three frontrunners in custody in less than an hour.

Two days later, as he's kidnapped and flown - by a _person_ wearing all black with a _cape_ \- to the roof of a New York City high-rise for questioning and possibly torture, he realizes he should've known it could never be that easy.

"Supervillains, just my luck," he mumbles as they tie him to a chair. Nice of them to let him see the view, though.

"Who is your accomplice?" the biggest guy demands, looming over him threateningly.

Peter starts to piece it all together. The woman who flew him up here is clearly in a relationship with the other, younger guy, and his current looming companion is… hired muscle? A relation? "So what's your deal, then?" Peter asks boldly. "The power of gravity?"

Looking outraged, the guy gets in a fairly good punch. While it hurts like hell, Peter can quickly assess that there's nothing super-human about it. And more to the point, his assaulter is immediately chastised by his younger counterpart. "Tell me who you're working with, or there's more where that came from."

A booming voice suddenly comes from behind Peter. "I think you're looking for me."

Peter is helpless to do anything as Superman - actually, irrefutably Superman - beats up on his kidnappers until they're knocked out. Peter manages to get one hand free in the meantime, but he's ignored as Superman ties the three of them up.

Once that task is done, though, Superman rushes to Peter's side. "Peter, I'm so sorry, I never should have let you get caught up in this."

Peter gives the man a suspicious look. Superhero or not, Peter has questions that need answers. The first of which is, "How do you know who I am?"

"Oh, right," Superman says, and after a blur of movement, Peter recognizes the guy in the spandex as none other than Neal Caffrey.

"No. What-- You can't--" Peter stammers, unable to accept what he's seeing.

Neal fixes him with an apologetic look. "Let me get you home, and then I'll answer any questions you have for me. Okay?"

Feeling numb, Peter nods. That same blur of motion happens again, and then the guy appears not quite recognizable. It's too much to comprehend. Peter is half convinced he's dreaming, even if his head is pounding like a train is barreling through it. His disbelief pitches up closer to 100% as he's flown over the city, back toward his house, where everything will at least be familiar.

******

El is home when they get there. This leads to more rushed explanations and, eventually, Peter gets to sit on his couch with his dog and try to assess when the breaking point occurred for his fall into insanity.

El brings him tea and places a comforting hand on his knee as Neal sits across from the two of them. Peter's head is rushing with all the questions he wants to ask, but he can't decide what to ask first.

"Explain," El prompts, and Peter wonders why he didn't think of that.

Neal bows his head in a regal nod. Peter has to take a large gulp of tea just to give himself something to focus on. "The past ten years, Neal Caffrey, everything… was all a test," Neal explains. "I didn't have any memory of being Clark Kent, of being Superman. My powers were stripped and I was given false memories, planted into someone else's life. By redeeming myself in the eyes of the law, I had also passed the test."

"And now you're Superman," Peter says.

"I am again. Yes."

Peter doesn't know what to say. He wouldn't believe it if he hadn't just been flown here by the man himself. If Neal wasn't sitting there looking completely alien in the suit Peter had only previously known from the news.

El sets her own mug down on the coffee table and gives Neal a weighing look. "I think this conversation might be a little easier for us if you looked a little more like your normal self," she suggests.

"Of course," Neal says, and in a blink of the eye, he's gone.

Peter laughs, the sound a bit hysterical to his own ears. "Can you believe this?" he asks El, but before the question is finished he hears a knock on their front door.

"I think we're going to have to," El says as she stands to answer it.

Neal follows her inside, looking innocent in that way that betrays he's not innocent at all, but the familiarity is a comfort to Peter.

"So Clark Kent," Peter begins.

"Was my name, originally. Yes."

"Who you really are," Peter clarifies.

Neal's eyebrows draw together. He doesn't like that explanation. "Part of who I am. My past self. The test I went through… it was all deserved, even if the methods were questionable. After everything we've been through over the years within the test, Neal Caffrey is an even bigger part of who I am."

Peter shakes his head, sure of this if nothing else. "You just told us those weren't your real memories."

"Not the basis, no, but everything I did over those next ten years was of my own choosing. It was all as real to me as it was to you."

"What was the reason for the test?" El asks as Peter goes over this in his head.

Neal meets her gaze and doesn't answer right away. "A series of increasingly bad decisions on my part, as a result of lives I wasn't able to save. If I had kept on that path without interference, Superman probably wouldn't be remembered in the optimistic light he is today."

Their questions continue, but Peter finds himself unable to single out the thing that's bothering him the most. El finally senses his frustration and suggests they call it a night.

"Give him a few days to process," he overhears El telling Neal. “We'll call you when we're ready to talk some more, and in the meantime, you call me if you need anything, okay?"

Peter's sleep that night is fitful, full of dreams of flying, falling, and Neal's unreadable smile.

******

Over the following days, Peter finds himself masochistically checking news feeds for updates on Superman. It seems he's saved a few people from unavoidable natural disasters, but otherwise he doesn't seem to be going out of his way to be noticed.

Through a lot of navel-gazing and several long, frustrating conversations with El, Peter realizes that his biggest problem with this whole situation comes down to trust. Even though Peter hadn't yet felt that he could fully trust Neal, he always thought he'd get there someday. But now there's a completely new side to Neal. An explanation, sure, but not one he ever could have been prepared for. It's not like Neal kept it from him deliberately, but how can he know how much of Neal is still there? Superman has always seemed to operate with a strict and accurate moral compass, whereas Neal has preferred to live closer to the gray areas of life. Peter can't reconcile the two entities into one person, not without losing the person who he'd begun to consider a close friend over the years.

"He called it his 'redemption'," El says when Peter is finally able to explain his unease. "Maybe Neal's rehabilitation got him to the same ethical place that Superman has always operated in."

"Maybe. But how do I know I can trust him?"

El shrugs and speaks as if it's obvious. "Just like you always have. You make him earn it."

******

El invites Neal to dinner the next night, leaving Peter to feel anxious all day. As a result, the first 15 minutes or so are unnervingly awkward, until El finally says, "Oh for goodness sake, would you two please stop avoiding eye contact? I feel like I'm dining with teenagers."

Neal gives him a tentative smile, a real one, and Peter finds himself laughing unexpectedly. "Sorry, hon," he says to El, leaning over to give her a kiss on the cheek.

"I take it you have more questions for me?" Neal prompts.

El gives Peter an encouraging look, so he takes a deep breath and says, "Not a question, but a proposition."

Neal's answering grin is wicked. Peter feels more sure than ever that he hasn't really changed.

Acknowledging that response with no more than a reprimanding look, Peter continues, "You and I continue to work together as we always have. I will keep your secret, but I won't be responsible for covering you if you disappear in the middle of a case."

Neal nods his agreement, then glances at El. "And outside of work?"

El's hand finds Peter's, and she speaks for both of them. "You're important to us. But as always, our relationships are based on honesty, and that hasn't changed."

Neal regards her with a gentle smile, then looks at Peter. "I promised never to lie to you. I intend to keep that promise."

"For both of us?" Peter asks.

"Yes." Neal reaches out toward El's other hand, glancing at Peter as he does. Peter gets the impression that if the distance across the table didn't make it awkward, Neal would be reaching out for his hand as well. When Peter doesn't say anything about the gesture, Neal continues, "You two took me in and helped me when no one else would. When I was at my lowest points. You gave me a chance, and I'll never forget that." His gaze is intent on Peter as he says, "You're the most important people in my life."

El smiles beautifully, squeezing both Neal and Peter's hands in her own. "We care about you, Neal. We just need some time to get to know you again, cape and all."

Neal laughs. "I understand. But you should know, Superman has always been an alias. Who I really am is shaped by the people I choose to keep close to me."

Silence falls in the wake of that declaration, and Peter gives it the time it needs to sink in.

"I'll take that as a compliment," Peter eventually says, and this time he completely believes in the sincerity of Neal's smile.

THE END


End file.
